Chlorinated polyolefin impact modifier for vinyl chloride polymers

Abstract

Chlorinated olefin polymers prepared from olefin polymer base resins having I 10 values of 0.05-0.8 dg/minute act as impact modifiers for vinyl chloride polymers under low to ambient temperature conditions. When vinyl chloride polymers are mixed with a preferred class of the chlorinated polymers, having chlorine contents of 20-30 percent by weight, compositions that exhibit short fusion times and low fusion temperatures are produced.

1. An impact-resistant composition consisting essentially of a) a vinyl chloride polymer; b) 2-15 parts by weight of an impact modifier per 100 parts by weight vinyl chloride polymer, said impact modifier consisting of a randomly chlorinated olefin polymer having a chlorine content of from 15-39 percent by weight; said randomly chlorinated olefin polymer being prepared from an olefin polymer selected from the group consisting of i) polyethylene homopolymers having I 10  values of from 0.05-0.8 dg/minute and ii) copolymers of ethylene and up to 10 mole percent of a copolymerizable monomer, said copolymers having I 10  values of from 0.05-0.8 dg/minute; and wherein no more than 1 weight percent of a randomly chlorinated olefin polymer having a weight average molecular weight below 200,000 Daltons is present in the impact resistant composition; and c) 0 to 200 parts by weight of an additional polymeric component per 100 parts by weight of said impact modifier, wherein said additional polymeric component is selected from the group consisting of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymers and acrylate polymers. 
     
     
       2. An impact-resistant composition of  claim 1  wherein the chlorinated olefin polymer has a chlorine content of from 20-30 percent by weight. 
     
     
       3. An impact-resistant composition of  claim 1  wherein the chlorinated olefin polymer is prepared from a polyethylene homopolymer having an I 10  value of from 0.05-0.8 dg/minute. 
     
     
       4. An impact-resistant composition of  claim 1  wherein the chlorinated olefin polymer is prepared from an olefin polymer comprising copolymerized units of ethylene and up to 10 mole percent of at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer selected from the group consisting of i) C 3 -C 10  alpha monoolefins; ii) C 1 -C 12  alkyl esters of C 3 -C 20  monocarboxylic acids; iii) unsaturated C 3 -C 20  mono- or dicarboxylic acids; iv) anhydrides of unsaturated C 4 -C 8  dicarboxylic acids; and v) vinyl esters of saturated C 2 -C 18  carboxylic acids. 
     
     
       5. An impact-resistant composition of  claim 4  wherein the unsaturated monomer is selected from the group consisting of propylene; butene; 3-methyl-1-pentene; octene; vinyl acetate; acrylic acid; methacrylic acid; methyl acrylate; methyl methacrylate; and glycidyl methacrylate. 
     
     
       6. An impact-resistant composition of any one of  claims 2  to  5  or 12 wherein the chlorinated olefin polymer is a chlorosulfonated olefin polymer. 
     
     
       7. An impact-resistant composition of  claim 1  wherein the vinyl chloride polymer is selected from the group consisting of i) a polyvinyl chloride homopolymer, ii) an interpolymerized copolymer comprising units of vinyl chloride and up to 20 weight percent units of at least one additional comonomer, and iii) a graft copolymer of vinyl chloride grafted to an ethylene-containing polymer. 
     
     
       8. An impact-resistant composition of  claim 1  wherein said acrylate polymer is selected from the group consisting of methacrylate butadiene styrene copolymers and polyacrylates.